I often thing the main goal of institutional religion boils down to money, power and control. Having been raised Catholic and having followed the Roman Catholic Church's efforts to cover up sexual abuse to protect Church assets, it became readily apparent that the Catholic Church hierarchy's true god was money, followed by a goal of controlling uppity members of the Catholic laity who might dare to exercise independent though utilizing their God given intelligence. Now, with support for gay marriage growing rapidly in Utah, the leadership of the Mormon Church seems to be demonstrating that control is even more important than money to the leadership of the Mormon Church. A piece in Slate looks at the Mormon Church's effort to clamp down and control possibly wayward Mormons who, God forbid, might come to believe in gay equality. Here are highlights:
On Sunday, in LDS wards across the country, Mormons received instruction about their church’s ongoing fight against same-sex marriage. Two days earlier, the First Presidency, the LDS Church’s highest ranking authority, distributed a letter to all congregational leaders to be read during church services. Acknowledging the recent events in Utah, the memo reminded Mormons that heterosexual marriage “was instituted by God” and that LDS officials would not perform same-sex marriages nor would any Mormon buildings be used for such purposes. The missive also directed congregational leaders to review with members, “The Family: A Proclamation to the World,” a document the church produced in 1995 that has appeared at times of social crisis ever since.
Understanding the creation and history of “The Family” not only helps us appreciate the particular logic of Mormon objections to same-sex marriage but also clarifies the larger issues at stake for the LDS Church in this matter. In 1993, after two decades of bruising internal theological and political battles over questions regarding gender and church authority, the LDS Apostle Boyd K. Packer told a group of church bureaucrats that the three greatest threats to the faith of Mormons were intellectuals, feminists, and the gay-rights movement.
“The Family,” issued as the church began these fights, linked the Mormon theology of salvation rooted in the traditional heterosexual family unit to the civil rights question of gay and lesbian Americans without even acknowledging their existence. Mormon salvation—or exaltation to the Celestial Kingdom—requires that male and female Saints enter into a temple-based marriage and enact, as “The Family” describes, the “divine design” of their respective gender roles. Men are to “preside over their families” while women are “primarily responsible for the nurture of their children.” Together, they are to fulfill their religious responsibility to reproduce, creating an extensive earthly family that will be joined together eternally in the afterlife.
[S]ame-sex marriage threatens the basic foundations of Mormonism. This is why “The Family” has been such a critical document for the LDS Church in its fight against same-sex marriage for the last 20 years and why the church has repeatedly reissued the document at other critical moments in the marriage equality battle, including in 2008 during the height of the church’s involvement against California’s Prop 8. By instructing Mormons about heterosexual marriage as a divinely-created institution essential for their own salvation, “The Family” and other LDS teachings construe the fight against same-sex marriage as a defense of their faith rather than an assault on the rights of gay and lesbian Americans.
All religious leaders have to connect theology to social issues in order to justify and mobilize political activism from their members, of course, but the LDS Church’s continual use of “The Family” has purposes beyond the same-sex marriage fight. Despite Mormons’ conservative reputation and voting patterns, there’s increasing evidence from grassroots Mormons that they are not as exercised about same-sex marriage as their leaders are.
A 2012 study from Brigham Young University found that only 29 percent of Utahans said same-sex relationships should enjoy no legal recognitions. This was down from 54 percent in 2004.
Mormon acceptance of gay marriage challenges the church’s authority, a core component of LDS belief. Church leaders have continually described gay marriage as a “moral” rather than political issue. If LDS leaders are unable to command solid opposition to same-sex marriage from the Saints, then its leaders’ prophetic status and moral authority has been weakened.
Increasing societal support for same-sex marriage suggests another crisis moment for the LDS Church could be coming. . . . . “The Family,” then, provides the clarifying reminder, disentangling same-sex marriage from the basic humanity of gays and lesbians while reinforcing heterosexual marriage as the cornerstone of Mormon salvation. And its continual reissuance underscores the LDS Church’s ultimate authority, reminding Mormons that a seeming political question has eternal consequences for all of them. It remains an open question, however, whether they will continue to agree.
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